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Asian oakfern, gymnocarpe du japon sous-espèce fréle, Nahanni oak fern

Stems

0.5–1.5 mm diam.;

scales 1–4 mm.

Fertile leaves

usually 8–39 cm.

Petiole

5–25 cm, with moderately abundant glandular hairs distally;

scales 2–6 mm.

Blade

narrowly deltate to narrowly ovate, 2-pinnate-pinnatifid, 3–14 cm, firm and robust or lax and delicate, abaxial surface moderately glandular, rachis moderately to densely glandular, adaxial surface glabrous.

Ultimate segments

of proximal pinnae oblong, entire to slightly crenate, apex entire, rounded.

Pinnae

of 2d pair almost always sessile with basal basiscopic pinnule usually equaling or slightly shorter than adjacent pinnule and equaling basal acroscopic pinnule;

basal acroscopic pinnule equaling or slightly shorter than adjacent pinnule, apex often entire, rounded.;

pinnae of 3d pair sessile with basal basiscopic pinnule equaling adjacent pinnule and equaling basal acroscopic pinnule;

basal acroscopic pinnule equaling or slightly shorter than adjacent pinnule.

Spores

32–37 µm. 2n = 160.

Pinna

apex acute.

Proximal

pinnae 2–9 cm, strongly curved toward apex of leaf, basiscopic pinnules strongly curved toward apex of pinna;

basal basiscopic pinnule usually sessile, pinnatifid or rarely pinnate-pinnatifid, if sessile then with basal basiscopic pinnulet often equaling adjacent pinnulet; 2d basal basiscopic pinnule sessile, with basal basiscopic pinnulet equaling adjacent pinnulet;

basal acroscopic pinnule sessile with basal basiscopic pinnulet longer than or equaling adjacent pinnulet.

Gymnocarpium jessoense subsp. parvulum

Habitat Acid or neutral substrates at summit of cool, shale talus slopes, and on granitic cliffs and outcrops
Elevation 0–2000 m (0–6600 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AK; CT; IA; ME; MI; MN; VT; WI; AB; BC; MB; NB; NT; ON; QC; SK; YT; Europe in Finland; Asia in Siberia; Kazakhstan
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Hybrids between Gymnocarpium jessoense subsp. parvulum and G. dryopteris (G. × intermedium Sarvela) are usually found wherever these two taxa occur together (Finland; Manitoba, Northwest Territories, Ontario, Quebec, Saskatchewan, Yukon; Alaska, Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin), and they are particularly abundant in the Great Lakes region. These hybrids have sometimes been referred to as G. × heterosporum, a name that is, however, correctly restricted to unique hybrids between G. robertianum and G. appalachianum (see discussion under G. robertianum; K. M. Pryer 1992). Gymnocarpium × intermedium is intermediate between the two parental species in its leaf morphology and glandularity, and it can be readily distinguished by its small, blackish, malformed, abortive spores, as well as large, brown, round spores that may allow this taxon to reproduce apogamously. Of the Gymnocarpium sterile hybrids, G. × intermedium is the easiest to distinguish morphologically.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Source FNA vol. 2.
Parent taxa Dryopteridaceae > Gymnocarpium > Gymnocarpium jessoense
Synonyms G. continentale
Name authority Sarvela: Ann. Bot. Fenn. 15: 103. (1978)
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